Belk Leadership and Vision
About MC Belk Pilon
MC Belk Pilon is President and Board Chair of the John M. Belk Endowment, where she and her team are committed to increasing access to and completion of postsecondary education. Guided by the vision she shared with her father, the late John Belk, MC leads the Endowment on its mission to create a stronger North Carolina.
Like her father, MC serves her community in many ways. She has participated on several boards that champion education access and success for all children, including Good Friends, Greater Enrichment, the Fletcher School and the Charlotte Country Day School. She is currently Chair of The John M. Belk Scholarship Advisory Board at Davidson College and active on the boards of myFutureNC, Inc., The Belk Foundation, College Advising Corps, New Republic Partners, The Winer Family Foundation and the The Belk Center.
In 2020, MC won the I.E. Ready Award, the highest honor bestowed by the State Board of Community Colleges. She was also awarded the 2016 Roanoke College Medal, the highest honor for an alumnus to receive, and the 2015 Central Piedmont Community College Distinguished Service Award.
MC earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and communications from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, where she also worked as assistant alumni director after graduation. After returning to her hometown, she spent twelve years in retail management for Belk and five years with The Belk Foundation, a family foundation that focuses on improving early childhood education, teaching, and leadership in public schools.
MC and her husband, Jeff Pilon, live in Charlotte with their three children.
About John M. Belk
When John Montgomery Belk enrolled at Davidson College in 1939, he continued a family tradition that began with the earliest Belk family graduates in 1847. John Belk amassed a record of leadership and accomplishment at Davidson that foreshadowed his extraordinary career and commitment to service. An economics major, Belk was captain of the varsity basketball team and a leader in student government and campus organizations.
Following graduation, he joined the U.S. Army Infantry, serving for three years in World War II as a lieutenant and resuming active duty in the Korean War. After serving as an officer of the United Nations Civil Assistance Commission, Belk returned home to his family business in 1952. Under his guidance as Chairman of the Board of Belk, Inc., the business expanded into one of the nation's largest and most profitable retail organizations.
John Belk dedicated himself to his community, most notably as mayor of Charlotte for four terms, from 1969 to 1977. Belk helped forge the beneficial collaboration between business and government that continues today, positioning Charlotte for its role as the nation's second largest banking center and one of the country's fastest growing cities.
In the early 1990s, he established the John Montgomery Belk Scholarship at Davidson, and in 2000 made an historic gift to endow this flagship scholarship program. John Belk was deeply touched by the opportunity to help deserving young people attend his alma mater, and kept in contact with many of the Belk Scholars. He remained engaged with Davidson until his death in 2007.